Wedding #1 for the #1 Wedding. The 2014 Times Square Cast did our first show, our “dress rehearsal” last night. We had a ball and it went off without a hitch – a technical miracle. It was my first Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, ever. Other cast members have hundreds and thousands of Tony n’ Tina nuptuals under their belt. Including our wonderful director Tony Lauria, who started off as Michael Just, the bride’s X, and ended up as Donny Dolce the self-absorbed but awesome wedding singer. When our director sings Sinatra to us in rehearsal and microphone testing, I close my eyes, and I feel like Frank is in the room.

I could feel the expertise and ease of the seasoned members of the cast. They know what we are there to do. Their back stories are American dreams. Denise Fennell joined the show in Boston over a decade ago playing the stripper Madalyn Monroe, and went on to play Tina among other roles. Now she grew up into playing Mrs. Josephine Vitale, mother of the bride. She makes a stunning entrance in a floor-length black gown reminiscent of a scintillating Morticia archetype, tall, sexy, thin, with Cher good looks and an expression on her face that will stop your heart. She whips comments off to instigate family arguments. To me, as Grandma Nunzio, grandmother to the groom, she taunts, “I’m cooking Thanksgiving! I do all the cooking.” I didn’t have a well-oiled response for her. Her searing expression shredded me and stopped me in my tracks. But now that I’ve had a night to sleep on it I can’t wait to get back into the ring, to Wedding #2 this Thursday night where Grandma Nunzio can verbally spar with her over who really cooks for the holidays. There’s no way Grandma Nunzio will let Josephine Vitale get away with that.

When Tony, the groom, played by stud Joe Ferraro, took off his shirt, I heard the young straight girls in the crowd swoon, “What a six-pack.” Yes, his athletic prowess is phenomenal. He dances and runs his antics easily for hours at a time. The groom doesn’t get to flirt with the girls in the audience. He’s in love with Tina. The charming groomsmen on the other hand are on it, inviting girls to the dance floor over and over. Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding is a great place for singles to meet someone.

Bridesmaid Marina, played by the powerhouse Marisa Perry, tops the night when she sings “Last Dance.” Yes, what a voice. This is what makes Broadway Broadway. The talent. It’s astounding to be chatting or arguing with Marina one minute and then hear her vocals blast out the Donna Summer chartbuster the next. Her voice leaves me reeling and will reel you to. What a way to end the night.

After the show I talked with some audience members who marveled over the knockout Concetta Rose Rella, who plays Nikki Black, daughter of the caterer. Nikki Black expresses her anger at her family by not smiling, not once for three hours. As Grandma Nunzio, I try to make her smile. I tickle her when we do the Conga dance. I tell her jokes. She doesn’t budge. She gets the transformation award. Without any wig or big costume changes, she transforms character with just facial and bodily expression. Stay around after the show to see her smile’s shine. You won’t believe it’s the same person. She goes from “knockout” to “facciabrutta” and back in an instance. That’s acting.

Get to this show as quickly as you can. You will want to come back again.

Dance with me at the wedding, —and come hungry! The vegetable pasta and salad and at Guy Fierri’s “Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar,” is marvelous. And the wedding cake by The Fashion Chef — is the best in town. This Italian ate well at the wedding. Good Italian bread. Good Vino. We’re all set. See you on the dance floor. Now click “Buy Tickets Now.”

Last Saturday Grandma Nunzio led the cast and crew of Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding around Arthur Avenue. I love when the whole Tony n’ Tina’s tribe, thirty of us, descend upon a place. It’s an instant wedding wherever we go. We stay in character. On this particular day, when my grandson son Johnny (the fierce and amazing Chris Lazzaro) got lost in the church alleyway, I yelled at him like Grandma Nunzio would. So, this being the Bronx, a lady across the street screamed at me, “Don’t curse in front of the church!” I didn’t even know I had cursed. I didn’t know what came out of my Grandma Nunzio mouth. All I knew was my grandson Johnny was locked in the alley behind wrought iron bars.

Arthur Avenue is the heart of the Bronx. And Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding is the heart of Broadway. Get them both together and fagetaboutit! We crowded Egidio’s Pasticceria on 187th Street. My son Anthony, better known as Nunzio (the gorgeous Rick Pasqualone), ordered an espressolungo, and Mike Black (the beautiful – all love Chris Di Pierro) got a box of eclairs and cannoli and napoleons for everybody. We began our tour at the church and ended at the rock – as it should be. At Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Ahun-Eighty-Seventh Street, (that’s right say it right Yo) some of the cast prayed, lit candles and looked at statues of saints. We sang a pushcart peddler cry on the street, “Chi mangi pesci mori mai!” (Who eats fish never dies!)

We made our way to Casa Nunzio – a house on Hughes and Ahun-Eighty-Sixth across from the Enrico Fermi Library. I picked this house to be the residence of our Nunzio family — cause I love this house — it exemplifies everything the Belmont neighborhood has been for the past hundred years to the diaspora of Italians. At this house you’re not in America. Let me explain. I performed in this house in 1996 when on the balcony, I asked the woman whose house it was back then, “Puppetta, what country do you live in?” Puppetta was a local resident I had met in the market, –the Arthur Avenue Retail Market. She came to my stand back then when I brought a piano into the market, rented a stall, and set up a two-year artist residency for my project “aSchapett!” I had a commission from Dancing In The Streets, to make site-specific community-based performance. Puppetta would sing and cook with us, and jump into improvisations I staged with artists, merchants, and residents. When I asked Puppetta what country she lived in, and gave her the microphone, to the hundreds of people that crowded her street corner for our show, she said, “Ahun-Eighty-Seventh Street.” Puppetta has long moved on. But there was her balcony across from the library and bakery, and here we were, thirty of us, the cast and crew, animating a bit of her history.

We entered the market through the back end on Hughes Ave, and right away Dave Greco, master chef of Mike’s Deli, greeted and fed us. Hot mozzarella made that moment was plated for us by Dave and his guys. Dave in his generosity sat us down, gave us a good Bronx talking to, and fed us to our hearts content. Capicola, mozzarella fresca, broccoli-rabe, melanzane, carciofi, salami, provolone… It was emotional for me walking into the market, a story too long to tell, but one that involves generations of my family. Suffice it to say, that in 1996, I had my Grandma Rose, who was 96 years young at the time, performing at the market “How to Make Cavateel” while my opera singers sang, and actors improvised with shoppers and merchants. Dave Greco told the cast how I had an acrobat stretch muzzarell’ across the aisle with him, ten feet long, over the audience. Arthur Avenue is a place of memories and nostalgia. An overwhelming amount of nostalgia.

Here we were, I with my new family, Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. The twenty-five year legacy of Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding met the legacy of the Bronx head on. I felt like a true old timer — saying to the crowd “the chicken market used to be here” and “this is where the pushcart peddlers sang their wares” and “the market was constructed in 1939 — when Fiorello La Guardia wanted to clean up the streets and get all the hawkin’ and squawkin’ peddlers inside.” I remember being younger, and the old timers tellin’ me “I wish you could have seen it when I was young…” Bah! Now I’m the old timer! “Grandma Nunzio!

We ended our tour at a three-story outcropping of Bronx Gneiss, jutting up outta the sidewalk on Ahun-Eighty-Eighth Street. This rock is a billion years old. Granite. I brought the cast up a pile of snow to touch the rock – to touch the billion years. To know where we are, where we’ve been. That’s where we took photos. At the billion year mark. At the rock.

Tina (the gorgeous Marilia Angeline) picked out Casa Vitale up the street on Hoffman — a pink two-story family house with friendly plaster animals and chairs off the stoop. We were done for the day, a well-fed sated cast celebrating a twenty-five year old phenomenal show – in the billion year old Bronx, to a billion years of Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding! Touch Gneiss! And remember your grammar: i before e, except in the Bronx.

Boutique de Voile, headquartered in New York, designs and sells custom-made wedding veils, tiaras, headpieces and hair jewelry for a variety of clients — individual brides-to-be, couture wedding salons, gown designers, stylists and now Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. Now that Tina’s wedding gown has been chosen, they are going to be creating Tina’s one-of-a-kind headpiece and veil!

Just look at the gorgeous pieces they have already created for their fashion forward clients:

Grandeur Headband – a statement crystal headband with filigree design

Delilah comb – Formal bejeweled hair comb of Swarovski crystal

Priscilla Pinwheels – hairpins that are malleable – molds and shapes easily into the hairstyle. Made with crystal and fresh water pearl

In a world where actors check their phones incessantly to see if they have landed the next role of a lifetime, all too often, their hopes are dashed. On the rare occasion when that phone rings with good news, traditionally, the news is delivered by a casting director’s covetous intern/actor. Sometimes the actor’s agent or manager delivers the welcome news.

In the wacky world of Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, we decided to have some fun with the actress we wanted to cast in the role of Tina. Think baptism by fire!

After the actresses 3rd callback, one of our production associates walked her out of the Broadway League building, under the guise of grabbing a cup of coffee. As they made their way through the heart of Times Square, the actress noticed a familiar face in the crowd. Dressed in a white tuxedo, on bended knee, holding a sign that red: “Tina, Will You Marry Me?” was her future show husband, Tony.

Watch her instant transition into Tina as she answers his question in this exclusive video from Broadway.com.

We’re pleased to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the launch of our redesigned home page. You’ll find some new features here and we’ll be adding lots more in the coming weeks. So please take a look around and try to come back soon as we get closer to Tony n’ Tina’s big day – previews begin March 12th!

The redesign kicks off with our new logo, which was created by Kick Design Studios here in New York. It’s never an easy assignment – to create a new look for a well-established brand, and trying to make happy a large group of actors, producers and directors in the meanwhile. (A theatrical family is no different than any other extended family except that our divas are professionally trained!) But we are incredibly happy with the look and feel of the new logo. In the words of Eddie Jabbour and Jo Baslow, from the creative team at Kick Design: “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding is about fun contrasts — the elegance of a traditional wedding contrasted against the vivaciousness of the show’s Italian-American namesakes, Tony and Tina. So we mashed-up the classic script for “Wedding” with a lively and exuberant typeface for “Tony n’ Tina” all against the big beautiful beating heart!”

Another major new feature here is our photo album. We’ve started out with some great shots taken of the happy couple in Times Square – snapped on a recent snowy day when Tony first proposed to his intended. We think these pictures really capture the excitement of our talented young couple as they begin a month of whirlwind preparation and prepare to set out on their journey together. We’ve also included a gallery of images from our recent auditions as well as photos from past productions. Most important of all – once the show opens our online album will highlight pictures taken of the wedding itself, including shots taken by audience members as part of the celebration!

A 25th anniversary is a big milestone – for a married couple certainly and even more so for a hit show. That’s how long Tony ‘n Tina have been together delighting audiences around the world with their wedding celebration. This silver anniversary production is special for me too since I’ve been involved with the show (and the show has been an important part of my life) nearly from its inception.

I first got involved back in 1985 when a good friend of mine from college named Mark Nassar asked me if I wanted to be the groomsman at a wedding. I had just graduated from college myself, was enjoying bachelor living and far from marriage minded. But this, Mark explained to me, was going to be something different — a make-believe wedding, a theatrical production staged by a group of my former Hofstra classmates in which the audience would play the guests. I had never heard of such a thing. I had no experience in the theater, no interest in acting but it sounded like a fun way to spend some time with my college friends.

Right from the first rehearsal I sensed there was something very special about this make-believe event. Even though I had no prior experience in the theater, I knew about partying, and it was patently obvious even at those first student productions that Mark and his friends had hit on a formula for getting people to let loose and enjoy themselves. Here was a room full of people, many of whom like me were not regular theatergoers, and yet everyone was having a blast. The combination of celebration and fantasy seemed to be irresistible.

It didn’t take long for a bright light to go off in my head. I realized this show had huge appeal and had the potential to be an enormous hit. I decided to get more involved with Mark and his friends, helping them develop the project as they continued to stage a few experimental productions over the next few years. And soon I decided to take the plunge. In 1988 I quit my job as a junior trader on Wall Street in order to launch my new career as theatrical producer. Of course, my parents and friends said I was crazy. But I felt this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Being young and headstrong, I was too naïve to listen to their sage advice. Instead, over the course of the next few months, I somehow managed to raise enough money to secure the rights and mount the first commercial production of Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding, which we staged in a small church and nearby restaurant in Greenwich Village called Gus’ Place. The rest, as they say, is history.

Only in hindsight has it become apparent how important a step that was, as the show has served as the launching pad for so much in my career and personal life. Through the show I met my wife and earned the livelihood to raise my family. I’ve also become part of an extended theatrical family that includes thousands of wonderful people all over the world. It may sound like a cliché but Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding is all about family, and those of us who have been involved, one way or another, have become a close knit group – at times dysfunctional (just like Tony and Tina themselves) but after all that just makes us more like a typical American family.

But setting the dysfunction aside, the joyful spirit of the show is infectious. It provides cast members and audience with a connection to each other that lives on long after the performance. There have been a good number of actual marriages that resulted from the show (not just my own), deep lifetime friendships; and all the places we have been together, the moments we have shared – this is what now motivates me to continue the legacy by bringing the show to a new generation. That’s why I hope you’ll be able to join us in the heart of Times Square for this special celebration of Tony ‘n Tina’s 25thAnniversary.

Watching Joe work during the callbacks was a pleasure. He was able to snap in and out of Tony’s skin like it was second nature. His authenticity, improv skills, natural sense of timing, and sense of humor made for a convincing argument that he belonged in the show and most certainly in that role. I look forward to watching him grow in the role and see what he builds on top of the strong foundation that was laid by the original Tony, and one of the creators, the incredibly talented Mark Nassar.

Marilia submitted herself through Actor’s Access. After her reading, which was solid on the first crack, I had her improv with a TNT alumni and iconic former Tina, Denise Fennel. I was rating the auditions on a scale from one to five, with five being the highest they could be. I wrote a ten on her resume’!

Long Day!

At her first callback, we had her improv with Joe Ferraro, (Tony). Watching the chemistry build between them put her in the lead position for the role, as far as I was concerned.

Let me tell you something…

At her second callback, she proved even more that her improv skills were sharp and that she could “go there” for real. Finding the right actor to play the role of Tina worried me the most after having worked with some amazingly skilled, strong, former Tina’s.

At her third call back, Marilia proved that she possessed all of the qualities and skills to tackle the role that the creator, Nancy Cassaro, built with so many layers.

You will spend the better part of the next 23 years of your life at a wedding! Here’s how that happens.

In 1990 when you are in your early 20’s, you will audition for the role of the wedding singer, Donny Dulce, in the Off-Broadway Smash Hit, Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding. You will not receive a callback for this role. Although you are very disappointed to not be considered for the role that you believe best shows off your skills as an actor and musician, you won’t be deterred from auditioning again for this groundbreaking interactive play.

Approximately one year later, you will audition for the role of the wedding crasher, Michael Just. At this audition, you should make bolder choices and take bigger chances with your interpretation of the character. When you are called back for this role, you will show off your improvisational skills leaving the Director no other choice but to cast you in the role.

After approximately 800 performances playing Tina’s ex-boyfriend, you will be offered the role of the Best Man, Barry Wheeler. You will accept this new challenge with the same enthusiasm, dedication and creativity you brought to the wedding crasher.

When you have performed about 400 performances as the Best Man, you will be offered the role you originally auditioned for and coveted, Donny Dulce. Your turn as the wedding singer will integrate all of your talents and provide you with an angle on the show that will serve you in ways you can’t yet imagine.

After a total of 5 plus years and approximately 1600 performances and endless laughter, you will leave Tony N Tina’s Wedding to pursue other creative opportunities both in theatre and in music.

This will begin a 7-year journey that takes you throughout Europe and the US performing and working with talented directors, musical directors, technical directors, producers, writers, actors, and musicians.

In the 21st century, you will be asked to direct the national touring company of Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding. Your intimate knowledge of the show and characters will give you the chance to hone your directorial style and skills. After 12 years of traveling around the country introducing hundreds of actors and thousands of audience members to the funny world of Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding, you will be asked by producer Joe Corcoran to direct the 2014 revival of the show in Times Square. You should accept this wonderful opportunity.

Note to my present self: Continue to make bold choices, take big chances, and find the laughter!

As we’re getting ready to launch this 25th anniversary production of Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding, one of our major goals is to bring the show to life for today’s audience in as contemporary a way as possible. Most importantly, we want this new production to incorporate and reflect some of the incredible changes brought about in recent years by the Internet and social media.

So this time we’re making Twitter and Facebook a direct part of the audience experience. The show starts as soon as you purchase your tickets, when you’ll receive a personal invite from Tony ‘n Tina together with their short video greeting. After that you’ll be able spend some time catching up with the whole wedding party through their Facebook pages, and watch Tina and the bridesmaids get fitted for their gowns at Kleinfelds. And when you show up for the actual celebration, please make sure to bring your cell phone so you can join in the banter on our live Twitter stream and upload your photos directly to Tony ‘n Tina’s online wedding album.

Our goal in using social media is to make the whole celebration feel even more real since nowadays this is the way we actually interact with one another and go about our daily lives. Going to your best friend’s wedding you would expect to participate in the online banter before and after the party. Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding is just the same.

Pulling this off and incorporating social media into a live entertainment presents quite a few challenges for the performers as well as logistical challenges offstage. But we think the payoff is well worth it because of the opportunities it provides to enhance the audience’s experience. And we are also lucky enough to be working with a great team, including our director, Tony Lauria, our social media consultants at Good2bSocial and our marketing director Jon Kayser.

Theater is always about teamwork. Now with social media everyone in the audience will have a chance to become part of the team. Follow us on Twitter and visit with the cast on Facebook. Be part of the celebration with Tony ‘n Tina and the rest of the family.

WHERE : St John’s Lutheran Church, 81 Christopher Street, just west of Seventh Avenue South (where Tony N’ Tina’splayed for over 10 years)

WHEN: Tuesday January 21st from Noon to 3pm

WHO: Aspiring actors from across the nation, vying for a chance to appear in the new production of the beloved show

WHY: Because this wild and wacky show should generate some equally wild and wacky auditions, which make great news stories! Meet the director and producer and find out why Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding has been a beloved favorite of theater-goers around the world and is now set to return to its home town, NYC

DETAILS: Known as the “Granddaddy of Interactive Theater,” Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding set the gold standard for the genre with an all-inclusive two-part event where audience members take on the roles of family and friends of the bride and groom. Now beginning this spring, the celebration is coming back to the heart of Times Square. As with the original production, the show begins with a sidesplitting ceremony, which will now be held at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School at 120 West 46th Street (formerly the Performing Arts High School, the school on which the film and TV show Fame was based). Immediately following the ceremony, the bridal party will escort their family and friends through the heart of Times Square and Shubert Alley to Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar (220 West 44th Street)! Once at Guy’s American, guests will enjoy an Italian-style buffet dinner, as well as cocktails and dancing all night long to DJ Donny Dolce, NYC’s #1 wedding singer/DJ. Performances will begin Wednesday March.

Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding was conceived at Hofstra University where Mark Nasser and Nancy Cassaro (the original Tony and Tina) were undergraduates. Both in the drama department from 1977-1981 they made up these characters and would often improv with each other, acting out the roles of two Italian boyfriend-girlfriends, just for fun. As their professional relationship continued (after moving to New York City after graduating), their characters continued to develop. In 1985, the idea to present an interactive wedding, where the audience played the guests, was planned and three performances were done. Between 1985 and February 1987, two additional developmental productions were mounted. When People Magazineattended in 1987 and wrote a 3-page story declaring the show “A Hit,” it was clear to everyone that the show must continue. At that point, Joe Corcoran secured the worldwide rights to present the show in New York and elsewhere, and in February 1988 the first commercial production was mounted in Greenwich Village. The church ceremony took place at St. John’s Church on Christopher Street, and the reception above Gus’ Restaurant on Waverly and Waverly in Greenwich Village. As the audience attended the church service, then walked along with the cast, across 7th Avenue to Waverly Place, the show became a fixture of the Greenwich Village neighborhood, running at that location for the first 10 years, before moving to Times Square where it ran for another 10 years.

“Just like a real wedding… only funnier.”– Chicago Tribune

Tony n' Tina’s Wedding is a one-of-a-kind night of entertainment – an immersive comedy show staged as an evening of nuptials for two Italian-American families. It invites the audience to actively … READ MORE